Human Anatomy And Physiology Preparatory Course, Carlos Liachovitzky

Open Educational Resources

The overall purpose of this preparatory course textbook is to help students familiarize with some terms and some basic concepts they will find later in the Human Anatomy and Physiology I course.

The organization and functioning of the human organism generally is discussed in terms of different levels of increasing complexity, from the smallest building blocks to the entire body. This Anatomy and Physiology preparatory course covers the foundations on the chemical level, and a basic introduction to cellular level, organ level, and organ system levels. There is also an introduction to homeostasis at the beginning.

Marshall Journal of Medicine

Vitamin K is known to play an essential role in the coagulation cascade; however, a growing body of research has found that a subtype of this vitamin, vitamin K2 (menaquinone) may have a beneficial effect in osteoporosis, cardiovascular disease, and cancer. This purpose of this article is to provide a comprehensive review of recent literature regarding menaquinone and its role in human health. This review discusses the physiology of menaquinone, its clinical benefits in cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, and cancer, and how it may interact with certain medications. The authors conclude that menaquinone supplementation has been shown to improve carboxylation ...

Objective: We sought to optimize an efficient method of extracting high quality human sperm DNA.

Methods: Sperm from three volunteers were isolated using PureCeption. We tested 1) proteinase K with DNA/RNA Shield, 2) DTT and TCEP as reducing agents, 3) QIAshredder homogenization, and 4) stability of sperm DNA fresh (baseline) or after 4 weeks of storage at 4OC in DNA/RNA Shield using modified Quick-gDNA MiniPrep. DNA was ...

The Effect Of Cold On The Physiology Of Drosophila Larva Heart And On Synaptic Transmission At Crayfish Neuromuscular Junctions, Yuechen Zhu

Theses and Dissertations--Biology

Ectothermic animals are susceptible to temperature changes such as cold shock with seasons. To survive through a cold shock, ectotherms have developed unique strategies. My interest is focusing on the physiological function of during cold shock and prolonged cold exposure in the fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster) and crayfish (Procambarus clarkii). I used Drosophila melanogaster as a model system to investigate cardiac function in response to modulators (serotonin, acetylcholine, octopamine, dopamine and a cocktail of modulators) in acute cold shock and chronic cold shock conditions as possible mechanism to regulate heart rate in the cold. To examine if the dampened heart ...

Nutrient Transport By Shrimp Hepatopancreas, Tamla A. Simmons

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Purified brush border membrane vesicles (BBMV) were isolated to characterize primary cellular transport mechanisms for white shrimp. The ultimate goal is to determine the effective components of a shrimp’s diet, thereby enhancing growth, as well as nutrient content. Juvenile shrimp are dependent on plant material as a food source. Potassium is a key component of plants, thus it may play a role in nutrient transport. In addition, divalent metals have been shown to act as co-transporters in several other organisms, thus they may serve as a transport mechanism for shrimp.

Senior Honors Theses

This paper covers three different areas concerning handwashing. First a review of the history of handwashing is done, going from ancient times to its introduction into modern medicine via Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis. This section gives a sobering reminder not to instantly reject data that comes in conflict with prevalent thought.

Then current medical knowledge about handwashing is examined, and the conclusion reached states that handwashing is best done with non-antibacterial soap.

Finally, a review of the psychology of handwashing shows that medical professionals often tend toward neglect if unwatched and unmotivated by an outside source. However, those suffering from obsessive ...

The Effects Of Adaptogens On The Physical And Psychological Symptoms Of Chronic Stress, Tosin O. Ajala

DISCOVERY: Georgia State Honors College Undergraduate Research Journal

Stress is a state of disharmony or threatened homeostasis. The maintenance of homeostasis in stages of internal or external challenges, called stressors, requires constant adjustments of hormonal, behavioral, and autonomic functions. The nuances of life may bring about unwanted stress to the human body. Some of the top causes of stress in America include work, finances, relationships, and health. There are numerous physical and psychological symptoms associated with long-term “chronic” stress, which include chronic fatigue, frustration, irritability, insomnia, frequent headaches, chest and back pain, weakness, and weight gain or weight loss. These symptoms of chronic stress are associated with depression ...

Michael A. Menze

Metabolic depression is typically correlated with extended survival of environmental challenge and energy-limitation in early life stages of various invertebrates and vertebrates. Diapause is an ontogenetically-programmed reduction of development and often metabolism seen in many invertebrates. When embryos of Artemia franciscana enter the state of diapause, the overall metabolic depression is estimated to be greater than 99%. These embryos also contain trehalose and express multiple isoforms of Late Embryogenesis Abundant (LEA) proteins, constituents often present in a number of such anhydrobiotic animals. The mRNA levels for LEA proteins are highest in diapause and post-diapause embryos that possess desiccation tolerance, but ...

University of Massachusetts Medical School Faculty Publications

Persistence detection is a mechanism that ensures a physiological output is only executed when the relevant input is sustained. Gene regulatory network circuits known as coherent type 1 feed forward loops (FFLs) with an AND-logic gate have been proposed to generate persistence detection. In such circuits two transcription factors (TFs) are both required to activate target genes and one of the two TFs activates the other. While numerous FFLs have been identified, examples of actual persistence detectors have only been described for bacteria. Here, we discover a transcriptional persistence detector in Caenorhabditis elegans involving the nuclear hormone receptors nhr-10 and ...

Life and Environmental Sciences Course-based Research Projects

The purpose of this experiment was to test whether alcohol induces starvation conditions in Tetrahymena thermophila. For this experiment, it was hypothesized that alcohol induces starvation due to a lack of energy available in the organism for feeding. This hypothesis was tested by monitoring food vacuole formation and expression of the PFK1 gene in Tetrahymena that were exposed to alcohol. The PFK-1 gene was chosen because its encoded protein plays an essential role in cellular metabolism. For the experiment, control and experimental cultures of Tetrahymena themophila were maintained in a nutrient rich media, with the media of the experimental group ...

Life and Environmental Sciences Course-based Research Projects

In this study, Tetrahymena thermophila cultures were exposed to an acute treatment of UV light and expression of the FBP1 gene was examined. The FBP1 gene encodes Fructose- 1,6-biphosphatase which plays an important role in the process of gluconeogenesis. It was hypothesized that exposure of Tetrahymena to UV light would cause an upregulation in DNA repair enzymes, thereby causing these cells to require higher levels of glucose. The higher demand for glucose would then result in the upregulation of gluconeogenesis and FBP1. Following acute exposure of Tetrahymena cultures to UV light, the expression of FBP1 was analyzed using reverse ...

Life and Environmental Sciences Course-based Research Projects

In this study, we investigated the effect of temperature on expression of the ATP1 gene in the organism Tetrahymena thermophila. We hypothesized that expression of the ATP1 gene would increase as we increased temperature. ATP1 is a highly conserved gene in Tetrahymena that codes for the alpha subunit of ATP Synthase, an enzyme that generates the energy molecule ATP. We decided to use heat treatment based on studies performed on ATP1 in Alaskan Cod showing increased expression in response to increased temperatures (Michael et al., 2015). We used reverse transcription and semi-quantitative PCR to analyze expression of ATP1 in our ...

Life and Environmental Sciences Course-based Research Projects

The enzyme 3-Hydroxy-3-Methyl-Glutaryl-CoA Reductase (HMG) HMG catalyzes the ratelimiting step in the biosynthesis of cholesterol and is a common drug target for cholesterol reduction. Previous studies in rats have shown that avocado oil reduces cholesterol levels. We were interested in determining whether the healthy fatty acids in avocado oil would have an effect on the expression of HMG. In this study, Tetrahymena thermophila were treated with avocado oil to determine the effect of fatty acids on expression of the HMG1 gene that encodes HMG. Expression of HMG1 was monitored using reverse transcription and semi-quantitative PCR. We predicted that expression of ...

Davis Lab Publications

Autophagy is required for cellular homeostasis and can determine cell viability in response to stress. It is established that MTOR is a master regulator of starvation-induced macroautophagy/autophagy, but recent studies have also implicated an essential role for the MAPK8/cJun NH2-terminal kinase 1 signal transduction pathway. We found that MAPK8/JNK1 and MAPK9/JNK2 were not required for autophagy caused by starvation or MTOR inhibition in murine fibroblasts and epithelial cells. These data demonstrate that MAPK8/9 has no required role in starvation-induced autophagy. We conclude that the role of MAPK8/9 in autophagy may be context-dependent and more ...

Biology Of Exosomes And Their Microrna Cargos
In Human And Bovine Milk, Amy Lynn Leiferman

Public Access Theses and Dissertations from the College of Education and Human Sciences

Exosomes are small, cargo-containing vesicles secreted by cells to facilitate intercellular communication. Of exosome cargos, microRNAs are especially interesting because of their involvement in gene regulation. Recently, our lab has shown that exosomes and their microRNA cargo are absorbed through the diet and elicit effects exogenously. Human and animal milk contain exosomes, which may have implications in infant and adult nutrition. There is evidence that bovine milk exosomes enhance growth of murine C2C12 myotube cell cultures, but whether this translates to muscle in vivo is unknown. The USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference is lacking up-to-date information about human ...

University of Massachusetts Medical School Faculty Publications

Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed malignancy in women. Analysis of breast cancer genomic DNA indicates frequent loss-of-function mutations in components of the cJUN NH2-terminal kinase (JNK) signaling pathway. Since JNK signaling can promote cell proliferation by activating the AP1 transcription factor, this apparent association of reduced JNK signaling with tumor development was unexpected. We examined the effect of JNK deficiency in the murine breast epithelium. Loss of JNK signaling caused genomic instability and the development of breast cancer. Moreover, JNK deficiency caused widespread early neoplasia and rapid tumor formation in a murine model of breast cancer. This tumor ...

Open Access Articles

Termination of RNA Polymerase II (Pol II) activity serves a vital cellular role by separating ubiquitous transcription units and influencing RNA fate and function. In the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Pol II termination is carried out by cleavage and polyadenylation factor (CPF-CF) and Nrd1-Nab3-Sen1 (NNS) complexes, which operate primarily at mRNA and non-coding RNA genes, respectively. Premature Pol II termination (attenuation) contributes to gene regulation, but there is limited knowledge of its prevalence and biological significance. In particular, it is unclear how much crosstalk occurs between CPF-CF and NNS complexes and how Pol II attenuation is modulated during stress adaptation. In ...

Open Access Articles

Aerobic glycolysis accounts for approximately 80%-90% of glucose used by adult photoreceptors (PRs); yet, the importance of aerobic glycolysis for PR function or survival remains unclear. Here, we further established the role of aerobic glycolysis in murine rod and cone PRs. We show that loss of hexokinase-2 (HK2), a key aerobic glycolysis enzyme, does not affect PR survival or structure but is required for normal rod function. Rods with HK2 loss increase their mitochondrial number, suggesting an adaptation to the inhibition of aerobic glycolysis. In contrast, cones adapt without increased mitochondrial number but require HK2 to adapt to metabolic ...

University of Massachusetts Medical School Faculty Publications

Aerobic glycolysis accounts for approximately 80%-90% of glucose used by adult photoreceptors (PRs); yet, the importance of aerobic glycolysis for PR function or survival remains unclear. Here, we further established the role of aerobic glycolysis in murine rod and cone PRs. We show that loss of hexokinase-2 (HK2), a key aerobic glycolysis enzyme, does not affect PR survival or structure but is required for normal rod function. Rods with HK2 loss increase their mitochondrial number, suggesting an adaptation to the inhibition of aerobic glycolysis. In contrast, cones adapt without increased mitochondrial number but require HK2 to adapt to metabolic ...

Reactive Oxygen Species And The Regulation Of Cerebral Vascular Myogenic Tone, Neil Mazumdar

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The myogenic response refers to the intrinsic ability of arteries to constrict to elevated pressure, developing “tone”. The underlying mechanism has yet to be elucidated but recent evidence suggests that the angiotensin II type 1 receptor (AT1R) is a key mechanosensor, linking intravascular pressure to tone development. One intriguing aspect of this receptor is its ability to activate NADPH oxidase (Nox), an enzyme responsible for the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS). The goal of this study was to ascertain the role of Nox in myogenic tone development. Isolated rat cerebral arteries were mounted in a myograph, pressurized to 60mmHg ...

Radical Social Ecology As Deep Pragmatism: A Call To The Abolition Of Systemic Dissonance And The Minimization Of Entropic Chaos, Arielle Brender

Student Theses 2015-Present

This paper aims to shed light on the dissonance caused by the superimposition of Dominant Human Systems on Natural Systems. I highlight the synthetic nature of Dominant Human Systems as egoic and linguistic phenomenon manufactured by a mere portion of the human population, which renders them inherently oppressive unto peoples and landscapes whose wisdom were barred from the design process. In pursuing a radical pragmatic approach to mending the simultaneous oppression and destruction of the human being and the earth, I highlight the necessity of minimizing entropic chaos caused by excess energy expenditure, an essential feature of systems that aim ...

University of Massachusetts Medical School Faculty Publications

White adipose tissue (WAT) secretes factors to communicate with other metabolic organs to maintain energy homeostasis. We previously reported that perturbation of adipocyte de novo lipogenesis (DNL) by deletion of fatty acid synthase (FASN) causes expansion of sympathetic neurons within white adipose tissue (WAT) and the appearance of beige adipocytes. Here we report evidence that white adipocyte DNL activity is also coupled to neuronal regulation and thermogenesis in brown adipose tissue (BAT). Induced deletion of FASN in all adipocytes in mature mice (iAdFASNKO) enhanced sympathetic innervation and neuronal activity as well as UCP1 expression in both WAT and BAT. In ...

Radiology Publications and Presentations

Motility of cilia/flagella is generated by a coordinated activity of thousands of dyneins. Inner dynein arms (IDAs) are particularly important for the formation of ciliary/flagellar waveforms, but the molecular mechanism of IDA regulation is poorly understood. Here, we show using cryo-electron tomography and biochemical analyses of Chlamydomonas flagella that a conserved protein FAP44 forms a complex that tethers IDA f (I1 dynein) head domains to the A-tubule of the axonemal outer doublet microtubule. In wild-type flagella, IDA f showed little nucleotide-dependent movement except for a tilt in the fbeta head perpendicular to the microtubule-sliding direction. In the absence ...

University Scholar Projects

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common form of liver cancer that affects ~14 million people in the world. Like all cancers, HCC is a disease that arises from unstinted cellular growth initiated by genetic alterations, metabolic changes, and dysregulation in key cellular pathways. Of interest is the relationship between metabolism and cell proliferation/degradation for therapeutic targeting. Pyruvate kinase M2 is a dimeric, glycolytically inactive isoform of the final enzyme involved in glycolysis, that is often upregulated in cancerous tissue. It is thought that the enzymatic function of PKM2 outside of glycolysis contributes to the biosynthesis of anabolic intermediates ...

Open Access Articles

Cell protrusion is morphodynamically heterogeneous at the subcellular level. However, the mechanism of cell protrusion has been understood based on the ensemble average of actin regulator dynamics. Here, we establish a computational framework called HACKS (deconvolution of heterogeneous activity in coordination of cytoskeleton at the subcellular level) to deconvolve the subcellular heterogeneity of lamellipodial protrusion from live cell imaging. HACKS identifies distinct subcellular protrusion phenotypes based on machine-learning algorithms and reveals their underlying actin regulator dynamics at the leading edge. Using our method, we discover "accelerating protrusion", which is driven by the temporally ordered coordination of Arp2/3 and VASP ...

Determining The Effects Of Quercetin On Cadmium Toxicity In Kidney Cells, Elizabeth Dugan

Undergraduate Theses

Cadmium is a heavy transition metal that causes kidney disease via prolonged, low-level exposure due to circulating metallothioneins. These proteins transport cadmium ions to the proximal convoluted tubule, where they induce the creation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Oxidative damage from ROS can lead to kidney dysfunction and eventually failure. Previous studies have shown that antioxidants, including quercetin, which is found in most fruits and vegetables, can lessen cadmium-induced toxicity. In this study, human embryonic kidney cells were pretreated for one hour with varying concentrations of quercetin ranging from 10 - 100 μM. This was followed by 24-hour treatment with 30 ...